Saturday, November 27, 2010

The ability make others believe what you believe is important for success in many fields. There is often a fine line between convincing somebody your views are valid and annoying them. In this article we’ll look at some of the techniques you can use if you want to convince another individual to believe what you believe.

Steps

Do the homework. Make sure you understand your own viewpoint. If you are going to try to convince somebody that the Eiffel Tower is taller than the Statue of Liberty, find out the facts first, don’t make assumptions.

Learn the field.

For certain areas you will need to know more than just the facts, as some subjects are subjective. For example, if you wanted to convince somebody that the Statue of Liberty was prettier than the Eiffel Tower you will need to know enough about architecture and aesthetics to argue about that subject, as well as the facts, like how tall they are. If you are selling something, like a car, you will need to know all there is to know about the car you are selling. Likewise, you will need to know all about the other cars that are in competition with your vehicle.

Engage the person politely.

Maintain eye contact where possible, but don’t be annoying about it.

Establish mutual respect.

You will never convince anybody of anything if they believe you do not respect them, so show the person you respect them and be good enough to gain their respect.

Gain trust.

To convince people of most things you will need their trust. They don’t have to trust you as a person, but they do need to trust that what you are saying makes sense, that you know your “stuff”. The best way to do this is to do your homework and fieldwork, that way you know a lot about the subject.

Listen carefully to what your debate partner has to say. Respond thoughtfully to their point of view.

When you can, back up what you say with real facts. Lying will only convince somebody until they find out about the lie, then you will never be able to convince them of anything again.

Be willing to be convinced.

Sometimes accepting one point from the other person and showing that you can change your mind when you are wrong will help them to be the same, and change their mind about the subject you care about.

Practice active listening.

Active listening helps you control a conversation and keeps it on track. Active listening techniques include:

Non-verbal feedback.

Nodding your head as the other talks etc.

Paraphrase what the other person has said to make sure you understand it. Make sure you understand the other person’s objections and respond to them in an intelligent manner.

Keep vigilant about your belief, but always respectful of the beliefs of others. Explain why your belief is important to you.

Understand the other person’s motivations.

If you know what another person wants, you are more likely to be able to give it to them.

Rephrase your beliefs in a way that the other person is better able to understand.

Follow up.

Ask questions to make sure the other person understands their new views completely.

Tips

To hold the eye of a crowd select individuals in the crowd and hold their eyes on-and-off through your presentation.

Never lose your cool. Nothing lacks conviction more than a raving idiot.

Always be friendly and respectful even if the other person does not change their mind.

Beliefs fade. You may think you have changed some one’s mind but find that in a day or two, perhaps a week, they are right back to where they were before.

Switzerland and Belgium may be the world’s most famous chocolate-making countries, but tiny Armenia has just stolen some of their spotlight by creating the largest chocolate bar, ever.

The sweet event took place in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan, and was organized by the Grand Candy Factory – a local chocolate making company – as a way to celebrate to celebrate its 10 years of existence. Guinness Book representatives were invited to take part in the unveiling of the chocolate monster created, and to make sure this event goes into the record books.

The giant chocolate bar weighs 4,400 kilograms, is 224 inches long, 110 inches wide, 10 inches thick and is made from cocoa beans from Ghana. In the following weeks, the world’s biggest chocolate down will be chipped into pieces and handed out to freely around Yerevan. The previous record for the world’s biggest chocolate bar was set in 2007, in Italy.

Friday, November 26, 2010

I recall back from my earliest childhood memories of schooling that during an art lesson , along with my classmates, being confronted with a bowl of fruit. The teachers’ instruction was simple - “Draw that bowl of fruit.”

My attempts surely must have been drawn gasps of despair from the teacher. Come to think of it, she never ever showed us how to do it. I wonder now if she had the same drawing skills as I.

At least these artists have far more skill than I and I am thankful that I can view their handiwork.

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, in the region of Uusimaa, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. Helsinki is located some 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of St. Petersburg, Russia and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia. Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities.

The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area among those with a population of over one million people, and the city is the northernmost capital of a EU member state. Altogether 1.3 million people, approximately one in four Finns, live in the Greater Helsinki area.

In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.

Buick is currently the oldest American automobile manufacturer, and among the oldest automobile brands in the world. It originated as the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in 1899, an independent internal combustion engine and motor-car manufacturer, and was later incorporated as the Buick Motor Company on May 19, 1903, by Scottish born David Dunbar Buick in Detroit, Michigan.

In 1955 Buick produced 738,814 vehicles with four models – Special Series, Super Series, Century Series and Roadmaster Series.

Roadmaster and Century increased horsepower from 200 to 236, from 150 to 188 in the Special and from 182 to 236 in the Super.

The ancient Romans built such an excellent system of roads that the saying arose "all roads lead to Rome," that is, no matter which road one starts a journey on, he will finally reach Rome if he keeps on travelling. The popular saying came to mean that all ways or methods of doing something end in the same result, no method being better than another.

A week after Apple's history-making announcement that the Beatles LP catalog would now be available digitally, iTunes announced that the first week numbers and they're, not surprisingly, impressive.

The Fab Four moved more than 450,000 full-length albums in that time and another two million songs, according to a rep for iTunes. The most popular download? "Here Comes the Sun," which was written by George Harrison for the Beatles' seminal 1969 album Abbey Road, which also landed at No. 6 on the iTunes album charts, wedged between Keith Urban's Get Closer at No. 5 and Taylor Swift's Speak Now at No. 7.

The specially-packaged Beatles Box Set, which includes the worldwide iTunes exclusive Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964, the band's first ever U.S, show, also just made the top 10.

“It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around," Paul McCartney said in the original Beatles on iTunes announcement from Nov. 16. Indeed, fans are still showing their love of the Beatles with their wallets.

John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the The Beatles song "I'm Only Sleeping" are expected to fetch up to $525,000 when they go up for auction in London in December. The late rocker scribbled down the words on the back of a phone bill demanding payment for an outstanding bill.

The note's value is estimated at between $375,000 and $525,000. The Fab Four's 1964 Ivor Novello Award for song writing for their hit single "She Loves You" is also among the memorabilia going under the hammer in the Bonhams auction, and is thought to be worth up to $75,000, while a second trophy, their 1968 win for "She's Leaving Home", carries an estimated price tag of $30,000'.

In 1836 Charles Joseph Latrobe wrote "No where is the stomach of the traveller or visitor put in such constant peril as among the cake - inventive housewives and daughters of New England. Such is the universal attention paid to this particular branch of epicurism in these states, that I greatly suspect that some of the Pilgrim Fathers must have come over to the country with the Cookery book under one arm and the Bible under the other."

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